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Margarita Della Valley, CEO of Vodafone, said that competition monitoring in the United Kingdom was ahead of the competitors in Europe after its victory with the approval of a 16.5 billion pounds of merger with three UK in December.
She said in a profit call on Tuesday that Della Valley told the European Union competition, Theresa Ribera, at a recent meeting that the bloc should follow the UK example of a policy of anti -monopoly. “The UK is now providing a clearer example on how to update the world of communications.”
Her praise will be a welcoming sign of supporting the authority of competition and markets in the United Kingdom, which has faced criticism from Sir Kerr Starmer for the alleged harsh growth. Minister Exit Marcus Bukiernk, Chairman of the Sea Board of Directors
Vodafone Valley said that CMA “has clearly realized that investing in our sector is paying competition, and therefore it is good for customers.”
The organizer agreed to the integration of 16.5 billion pounds for Vodafone business in the United Kingdom with the three CK Hutchison in the United Kingdom to create the largest phone operator in Britain with 29 million customers at the end of last year. The integration is expected to be officially completed during the first half of 2025.
CMA has obtained obligations from companies to invest billions of dollars to launch the 5G network UK In addition to agreements to reduce the prices of some portable tariffs and data plans.
However, CMA stopped influencing Vodafone To sell any part of the work. The requirements of companies that must be stripped during the integration process have hindered previous attempts to unify European communications.
“The focus has been on our network plan, as it built one of the best 5G network in Europe,” said Valle. “We look forward to providing this example of this conclusion to European markets. The European Commission is considering how to change the integration instructions in our industry.”
She added that the European Union should “expand the horizon” for its own evaluation to allow mergers. The instructions in Europe talk about the evaluation of these mergers in the time frame for 18 months to three years. We are in the technology industry. We must look at it on a wider time horizon, as CMA did. “
She also praised the work of the UK telecom regulator, saying that over fifteen markets, “Offcom is definitely one of the best, if not the most advanced, this industry, because it is at the forefront of understanding the development of technology.”
She added that the United Kingdom “starts from a very strong position.”
Valle was speaking after the group recorded stronger growth in sales, which was expected at the end of last year in a quarterly update, supported by its performance in the United Kingdom, Turkey, South Africa and Egypt. However, the shares of the company decreased by more than 7 percent on Tuesday due to the decrease in revenue in Germany, which is one of its main markets.
